Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis 44 (1997) 65–74 Desulphurization of two Turkish lignites in an entrained flow reactor H. Ers ¸ahan a, *, O.N. S ¸ ara a , R. Boncukcuog ˘lu b a Department of Chemical Engineering, Engineering Faculty, Uniersity of Atatu ¨rk, 25240 Erzurum, Turkey b Department of Enironmental Engineering, Engineering Faculty, Uniersity of Atatu ¨rk, 25240 Erzurum, Turkey Received 22 July 1997; accepted 20 August 1997 Abstract Desulphurization of Balkaya and Bolu – Mengen lignites by flash pyrolysis in an entrained flow reactor under nitrogen atmosphere was investigated. Experiments were conducted in a 450 – 750°C temperature range. The change of sulphur types, the removal of total sulphur and volatile matter with pyrolysis temperature were found. The removal of the total sulphur and the volatile matter for Balkaya lignite at 750°C were obtained as 42.2 and 72.7%, respectively, while these values are 57.0 and 66.8% for Bolu–Mengen lignite at the same temperature. © 1997 Elsevier Science B.V. Keywords: Desulphurization; Nitrogen atmosphere; Balkaya lignite; Bolu – Mengen lignite; Pyrolysis 1. Introduction The gradual reduction of the world’s high value coal reserves have focused studies on the upgrading of lower rank coals to produce clean fuels. Also, new technologies for efficient coal utilization are now being developed for the largest coal consumer industries, such as steelmaking and electric power generation. Desulphurization of high sulphur coals to produce clean fuels can be achieved by different methods: desulphurization before combustion by using some physical, biological and chemical methods; desulphurization during combustion and desul- phurization after combustion by scrubbing of sulphur oxides in the flue gas [1–4]. * Corresponding author. 0165-2370/97/$17.00 © 1997 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII S0165-2370(97)00067-3